The Short Game 10
Author's Note: So, we are seeing how things go for our young pair with all that has happened and a baby in the mix.
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Ressler was not sure this was a smart idea, but he wasn't sure what idea would be, so he decided not to argue. Liz had been off and home in her own place with Agnes for two months now as she dealt with her assault and the loss of Agnes' father. At times she seemed herself again, and at other times she vacillated between feelings of guilt and anger.
Ressler had stayed with her and Agnes most nights over the last two months, but, honestly, appreciated the break work and his own apartment offered him some days. Cooper had managed to quash any investigation into their working relationship and ability to continue to work together despite their personal involvement. He had gone back to work after a couple of weeks off and Liz had stayed home with Agnes, taking care of her, going to counseling, and dealing with her grief.
He had started to see a counselor as well. Something he never, ever, thought would come out of his mouth. But it helped him understand Liz better and his own feelings of guilt and feeling like an interloper on another man's family. As much as that man was a scumbag that he would have probably killed with his own hands after what he did to Liz, it was his family. Agnes was Tom's daughter. Liz was Tom's wife. And he had been having an ongoing affair with Liz for almost two years. And that didn't feel good. So, he saw Dr. Suzuki once a week and was feeling better and better over the last month.
"Ressler?" Liz asked him as she snapped her finger by his ear.
"Oh, uh, yeah?" He asked.
"You were a million miles away hon," Liz said as she looked at him carefully. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, sorry," he said as he undid his seatbelt.
Liz looked at him concerned but said nothing.
They got out of the minivan she was driving and opened the side door to grab a couple of bags.
"Are you tired?" Liz asked, knowing she had some nightmares last night that they both woke up for.
"A little, probably," he said dismissively.
She leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek. "I know I'm not a treat to sleep with lately."
He chuckled. "At least you haven't hit me in the last couple of weeks."
Her face fell. She had given him a black eye in the middle of the night one night three weeks ago and she had been so horrified by her violence that she had slept on her sofa for days afterwards until he had persuaded her back into bed.
"Sorry, bad joke," he said as he placed a hand on the small of her back.
She nodded and took a deep breath. Nothing had been easy between them when it came to anything that had to do with the bedroom. They had not had sex since she was attacked. It had been 11 weeks and she knew something had to happen. Ressler had not once brought it up, not once looked at her in that way, and had not once indicated that anything was missing from their relationship. But the truth was, sex was. And she wanted to have sex, she just didn't know if, in the moment, something out of her control would happen. And she didn't want to traumatize him with a panic attack, tears, or whatever else could happen to her in that moment.
They had cuddled, they gave each other very chaste kisses, she didn't flinch when he touched her anymore, they held hands, he rubbed her feet, and they slept in the same bed without anything remotely sexual happening between them. And Liz knew she could continue this way with him for the rest of her life and he would never breath a word. Ressler would never ask more of her. He would accept what she could give. But Liz knew she could give more. She knew she wanted a sexual relationship with him, and she didn't want Tom taking that joyous part of her life away. She wouldn't allow it. She wouldn't allow Tom to ruin the wonderful thing she had with Ressler.
Ressler placed a baseball cap on her head and smiled at her. "Ready to join the big leagues?"
"Ressler…"
"Adam," he reminded her.
"Adam, it's a couples softball league," Liz snickered. "Hardly the big leagues."
"It is for an illegal domestic help ring," Ressler said. "Ready to hire an illegal maid?"
Liz chuckled.
"Come on Cindy," Ressler said with a wink before they headed to the diamond where all the other couples were assembling. Liz had requested an undercover case to ease back into work. Truthfully, she had admitted only to Ressler, that she was worried about walking back into the Post Office with everyone knowing what had happened to her.
Ressler, at home in baseball leagues, immediately found the person in charge and introduced them. Apparently, they were one of five new couples who had not played in previous years, so he and Liz were placed on the Stanhope Tires team.
"We were supposed to be on Beckett's Windows," Liz said under her breath as they were given their team shirts.
"Last minute switch, I guess," Ressler said under his breath. "They all drink together afterwards so it doesn't really matter. We can chat with the Morrison's and the Beckett's then."
"Come on Liz," Sarah Stanhope called to her. "You can be the outfield."
Liz took her glove, whacked Ressler on the ass with it, and started to walk to her place with Sarah. Ressler had explained that she had no experience with baseball, and he had played in college. He was given third base.
The game progressed as expected with Liz hardly seeing any action in the outfield, hitting a fly ball, Ressler getting a triple, and working with the first basewoman and pitcher to get people out on third. Ressler made small talk on the bench with some of the men, talking about IT as if he was Aram himself, and Liz chatted with a couple of women and men about working as an account executive and their daughter Trina. At the end of the game, they were invited for drinks with everyone at a local bar called The Fox Hunt.
They got into the minivan and started for the bar.
"Helen seemed very interested in my mom leaving soon and us needing to find a daycare for Trina," Liz said as she drove.
"Yeah, her husband Rick seemed to rave about all the great food Maria makes them and how we should come over for dinner one night," Ressler scoffed. "He's forgetting to mention that he keeps Maria locked in a basement apartment and holds her passport."
"Okay, truth, how bad was I?" Liz asked.
He chuckled. "You were fine."
She chanced a quick glance at him and saw the smirk.
"I sucked big time, didn't I?" Liz asked.
"I wouldn't…" he started.
"Ressler…" she warned.
"Well, once I showed you how to hold the bat and stand for hitting, you seemed…I mean, you at least made contact after that…"
"Yeah, thanks for that," Liz smiled as she pulled into the parking lot.
He chuckled softly.
"Ressler, let's not make this a long night," Liz said. "I know we need to get in with them, but it's my first case back and…"
"I get it," he said as he placed a hand over hers. "One drink and then we say your mom needs us home for the baby."
"Speaking of which…" Liz said as she pulled out her phone and quickly texted Dembe to ask for an update.
"Any word on Agnes?" Ressler asked.
"No news is good news, right?" Liz asked.
"Here's hoping," he said as they got out of their high-end minivan.
They walked into the bar and immediately were greeted by the Stanhopes. Sarah and Martin corralled them into a booth with them. Liz and Ressler exchanged looks; the Stanhopes were not the couple they needed to get close to.
"So, how did you like the league?" Martin asked as the waiter walked away with Ressler and Liz's orders.
"Good, softball is a little slower," Ressler smiled. "But so am I now."
The table laughed and Liz placed her hand over his and he smiled at her. She was doing that a lot this last week, touching him for no reason. Casually and easily. He didn't feel like it was something she was forcing herself to do anymore.
"So, how old is…?" Sarah asked.
"Trina," Liz smiled and pulled up a picture of Agnes on her fake phone. "Eight and a half months."
"She's gorgeous," Sarah said as she held Liz's fake phone in her hands. "Looks like she'll be a ginger like daddy."
Ressler laughed cautiously next to her and watched Liz carefully for her expression. Going back to work was one thing, talking about Agnes and pretending Tom didn't exist another.
"She is getting a little darker lately," Liz smiled as she took back her phone. "But ginger works for him, so if she ends up a redhead, I'd be happy."
The table laughed and a beer and Coke were placed in front of them.
"She's crawling," Liz said. "And we can hardly keep up with her."
"You're not back to work yet?" Sarah asked.
"I am working from home part-time right now. I have for the last two and a half months" Liz said. "We're on the wait list for a few daycares. My mom can't stay with us much longer. My sister has a special needs child and she used to help her a lot."
"Oh wow, your mom sounds busy with grandchildren," Sarah smiled.
"Yeah, she's fantastic," Ressler said taking a drink of his beer. "But I have to say, it would be nice to have someone stay and replace her. We have an in-law apartment over the garage where she's been staying and I'm not sure I can go back to not having someone around to help ease our work with Trina."
Martin nodded, more interested in the game on the TV behind them then the conversation.
"My mom lives with us," Sarah admitted. "Godsend!"
Liz chuckled and nodded. They had no indication before the case or now that the Stanhopes were involved in the domestic help ring, but she wouldn't be surprised if they knew something was up.
"Who's winning?" Ressler asked Martin as he turned to look at the TV as well.
"No alcohol?" Sarah asked. "Still breastfeeding?"
"I am pumping for a feed once a day," Liz smiled. "I wanted to keep her on some breastmilk as long as possible."
"I breastfed until mine were almost two," Sarah said.
"Wow," Liz smiled.
"Yeah, I was big time committed," Sarah laughed. "You two thinking of more?"
"I think we're just trying to survive this one," Liz chuckled.
There was a lot of truth to what she was saying; Ressler and she were co-parenting Agnes. As much as she thought of herself as a single mom, she really wasn't. He got up with Agnes in the middle of the night sometimes, he knew how to warm her bottles and change her diapers, was goo at feeding her baby cereal, chased her around as she learned to crawl, and she fell asleep on him easier than on Liz. He was a great dad. Ressler was the dad Agnes deserved but was never meant to have. Liz needed to talk with him about what that meant for him and them.
They drank and ate chips that were placed on the table and Liz noted that the other couples came by to chat but there was little opportunity to really speak with them as long as Sarah and Martin were keeping them occupied. Next week they would need to sit at the long table where more people where and where the Beckett's seemed to hold court.
By 10 pm Ressler had almost finished his beer and Liz faked a surprise call from her mom that caused her to leave the table and talk about Trina. She came back and they paid their bill and were off, citing a teething baby as the reason they couldn't stay longer.
"So, what are your thoughts on our next move?" Ressler asked her as they turned into her parking garage. They had been talking about their impressions of the other couples all the way home.
Liz sighed. She knew he was busy with 'real' cases at the Post Office, and was doing this to ease her back into work. It wasn't a huge undercover operation, but once a week was a commitment she felt she could make right now.
"I think we wait until next week, go to our regular game and get to The Fox Hunt earlier so we get a spot at the big table with everyone so you can tell them how much you're going to miss my mother living with us and helping with Trina," Liz said.
"Uh, speaking of which," Ressler said as he shifted in the passenger seat next to her. "My mom is coming this weekend. Thursday to Monday, actually."
"She is?" Liz asked.
"Yeah, uh, she'd like to spend some time with you and Agnes, if possible," Ressler said.
Liz thought about the woman that she had briefly met when Robby was in the hospital and how much had changed since then. She had married, had a baby, and become a widow since then. None of those things had happened with Ressler either. She would probably need to answer for those things with his mother.
"Sure, is she staying at your place?" Liz asked, thinking her small apartment was not big enough for another person. She put their minivan in park and turned to face him more.
"Yeah, which means I'll be staying there too," Ressler said.
"Oh," Liz sighed, she hadn't thought about that.
"Are you okay with…?" Ressler started. She had stayed alone a night here and there over the course of the last few months, but never so many in a row.
"Uh, yeah," Liz swallowed hard. "We'll be fine. Enjoy the time with your mom and we'll do dinner at my place and maybe some walks in the park with Agnes?"
Ressler smiled at her. "That sounds great. Maybe you and Agnes can come to my place and mom and I can make you something nice."
Liz smiled, the thought of Ressler cooking with his mother was heart-warming.
"I would love that," Liz said as she placed her hand on his thigh. He placed his hand over hers and smiled at her.
"You're really okay with me…?"
"Yeah," Liz smiled. "It'll be good for all of us. Although, Agnes will miss your midnight swinging."
He laughed and they got out of the minivan and headed inside.
When they got to her place, they were greeted by a half-asleep Reddington and Dembe who quickly reported that all was well with Agnes before they left.
"I'm going to grab a shower," Ressler said before he kissed her forehead and walked into the washroom stripping off his jersey.
Liz watched the door close over and took a deep breath.
She locked her front door, checked on Agnes, walked into the washroom once he had started the shower, and stripped off her clothes. Liz tried not to think about anything beyond this moment; the opportunity to be with the man she loved. Liz pulled back the curtain and saw a very surprised Ressler on the other side. She stepped into the shower, and he moved to the side to give her some room. She knew, just from looking at him, that he didn't know what to do or say.
Liz took another deep breath and placed her hands on his chest and leaned in and kissed him deeply.
He carefully responded to her kiss and still hadn't placed a hand on her body. Liz pressed her body into his and lowered her hands on him.
"Liz, we don't need to…" Ressler said, his breath hitching.
"I want to," Liz said softly.
"Do you?" He asked, clarifying.
She nodded and kissed him again.
She felt his hands tentatively come to her hips. They were feather-light and barely there.
Liz stayed in the moment and kissed him deeply, her hands on him, her body against his, her heart pounding in her chest. He groaned.
Liz smiled and she felt his hands tighten slightly on her hips.
Twenty minutes later, they were pulling apart and trying to find their balance on the slippery tub floor after making love for the first time since her attack. He held her carefully and pushed her wet hair from her eyes and looked down at her both happy and concerned.
She smiled up at him, she didn't freeze, or cry or panic in the moment. He was her Ressler and he made her feel both safe and loved. Liz snuggled into his body while his arms came around her and held her tight against him. The water was starting to cool but neither of them seemed to care.
To be continued…